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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/27379249">Lessons in the waiting</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/alice9/pseuds/alice9'>alice9</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Teen Wolf (TV)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Alternate Universe - Human, Deputy Stiles Stilinski, Hurt Stiles Stilinski, Lawyer Peter Hale, M/M, Secrets</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-11-04</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-11-04</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-06 18:21:11</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Not Rated</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>2,915</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/27379249</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/alice9/pseuds/alice9</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>Melissa lets go of Peters hand and leans in a bit, her eyebrows drawn up as are the corner of her lips. “Is it serious?”<br/>Peter’s eyes flicker to Johns in a way that makes him want to punch something.<br/>“He did propose the other day, so technically I am his fiancé.”<br/>John's brain short circuits.<br/>Stiles is engaged.<br/>Stiles is engaged and he hadn’t said anything.</p><p>Or</p><p>Stiles has been shot and John learns just how much he doesn't know about his son.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Peter Hale/Stiles Stilinski</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>32</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>703</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>Lessons in the waiting</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>I love a good everyone hurts fic. I also love a good John finds out about werewolves or older partners fic. This scratched my itch for all of that and I hope you enjoy it too.</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>He is at the hospital more now than he had been when his wife was slowly losing her mind. When she was slowly dying. Nowadays he is usually here to visit someone recovering from a routine surgery, not waiting for news. Not left wondering at the extent of the damage.  </p><p>It was one of the fears he’d had when Stiles came to him after his first year of college, jaw set and eyes determined, saying he wouldn’t return to school. He wanted to join the Sheriff's department and John didn’t argue with him. But this was the fear. He knew how dangerous the job could be. He knew how quickly a routine thing could become dangerous. Like the way Stiles responded to a security alarm and received two bullets for his efforts. He’d been an officer for five years without a problem and now this.</p><p>He could tell how bad it was by how rattled Melissa had been when she met him in the E.R. before she even told him what had happened. And it was bad. One of his lungs had collapsed and the bones in his shoulder were shattered and would need to be repaired. He would need physical therapy to regain use of his arm. </p><p>If he survived the surgery at all.</p><p>TWTWTW</p><p>He’d been sitting in the waiting room of the O.R. for about an hour when he hears the footfalls of hard soled shoes moving quickly towards the nurse's station. It’s enough to draw his ears attention but not his eyes and he doesn’t bother to look up until he hears a loud voice asking after his son. By his given name. </p><p>Frazzled was not a way John would ever have described Peter Hale but there was no other word to encompass the way the man looked. Where John had seen him in court he was always put together, commanding the room with a fierce intensity and sharp words. There was a reason he was called the Wolf. </p><p>Right now he didn’t seem like a wolf. </p><p>Right now he seemed like he was falling apart. He looked frantic and tense. He looked like how John felt, but he had no idea why. He didn’t even know that Stiles knew the man let alone enough that he could call him by his real name. </p><p>“Sir if you could just-” The nurse, John thinks her name is Sara, tries to speak but is cut off.</p><p>“The hospital called me and the E.R. nurse sent me over here. Someone needs to tell me what's going on.”</p><p>“I understand but I need you to-”</p><p>Maybe it’s the weight of John's bewildered stare that pulls Peter Hale's head to the side, eyes widening slightly when he made eye contact.</p><p>“Nevermind.” He tells the nurse, turning away from her and he walks determinedly over until he is standing in front of John. </p><p>“Have you heard anything yet? What happened?” Peter asks him like he has a right to the information. </p><p>“Robbery.” John finds himself answering. “He’s in surgery. He was shot.”</p><p>Whatever bravado he’d mustered fell out of him so fast John was concerned the man was going to fall down. Instead he breathed out heavily, turned and sat down one seat over from John. </p><p>“Jesus.” </p><p>John watches Peter fill a time honored stress cliché yanking his tie from his neck. “How bad is it?”</p><p>Again John finds an answer coming out of his mouth without much of a thought. “Collapsed lung and a destroyed shoulder. It isn’t good.” And then the question that has been nagging him since Peter had asked after his son, “what are you doing here?” </p><p>“The hospital called me.” </p><p>“But why?” </p><p>Peter takes a deep breath and sighs it out even deeper. HIs body solidifies into something tense and weighted. “We’re together. Have been for a while now.” </p><p>“Oh.” Johns says. “Oh.” He repeats because there is nothing else coming to mind. </p><p>“Yeah.” Peter shrugs.</p><p>“How long is a while?” </p><p>“Three years.”</p><p>“Are you kidding me?” John spits incredulously. “I didn’t even know he knew you.” </p><p>The laugh that comes out of Peter is sad and self-deprecating. “I know.”</p><p>His attention is drawn to Melissa calling out his name from where she’s come from down the hall. He stands up to meet her and Peter joins him. </p><p>“Hey Mel, how's he doing?” </p><p>Melissa's eyes dart to where Peter is before falling back to John. “He’s okay for now. Stable. He’s not out of the woods but he’s much better than earlier. It’ll still be a few hours until we can know anything for sure.”</p><p>She turns and reaches her hand out towards Peter. “Melissa McCall. Friend of the family.”</p><p>John watches their hands meet in a firm shake. “Peter Hale. Boyfriend.”</p><p>“Oh!” Melissa exclaimed happily. “I heard about you.”</p><p>“You knew Stiles was seeing someone?” </p><p>Melissa looks sheepish and just John feels annoyed. “I mean, I didn’t know his name. Scott just let me know a couple months ago that Stiles was seeing someone and it seemed pretty serious.”</p><p>Melissa lets go of Peters hand and leans in a bit, her eyebrows drawn up as are the corner of her lips. “Is it serious?”</p><p>Peter’s eyes flicker to Johns in a way that makes him want to punch something. </p><p>“He did propose the other day, so technically I am his fiancé.” </p><p>John's brain short circuits. </p><p>Stiles is engaged. </p><p>Stiles is engaged and he hadn’t said anything. John didn’t even know he was seeing anyone let alone this. He is stiff but the ground is gone and he feels too out of body for the moment. </p><p>His eyes dart over to Peter's hand. There’s no ring, but that doesn’t mean he’s lying. </p><p>“Oh my god.” Melissa says softly clasping a hand over her mouth. She looks so happy. “Oh my god that's wonderful. Congratulations!” John watches as her arms wrap around Peter Hale, Wolf of the courthouse, apparent fiancé of his one and only son in a hug. </p><p>There was something in the way that Peter smiled too sad for the news that had John on edge. </p><p>Melissa pulls away and wipes the tears from her face. “Alright then. I'm sure he is going to be fine. I will check in on him after my next set of rounds and I will let you know how he is.”</p><p>“Thank you.” Peter says softly. </p><p>“Thanks Mel.” John adds in. </p><p>Her hand on his arm, even for the brief moment she squeezes it before leaving with the promise of updates, feels like a grounding wire.  He stands there staring as she walks away and then just breaths trying to find some semblance of balance.</p><p>By the time he finds himself Peter has already sat back down and is looking doubly defeated. </p><p>John joins him once more on the hard plastic chairs. “Engaged huh?” He says for lack of better words. The whole ordeal is too much for him. Stiles may be stable now, but what if it didn’t last? Stiles hadn’t told him about his relationship but Melissa knew. Stiles hadn’t told him he was serious enough for engagement. </p><p>HIs son, he knew, was a romantic. But he also didn’t take love lightly. It was a Stilinski family trait. A proposal wouldn’t have been a thing he had taken lightly, not in the least. </p><p>John didn’t know what he did wrong to lose Stiles' trust, to be kept so far out of the loop that Melissa knew Stiles was seeing someone before he did. Whatever it was when his son woke up he would do whatever it took to fix it. </p><p>“I told him no.”</p><p>John wasn’t expecting his son to have proposed, and he certainly couldn’t imagine anyone telling him no. “You what?” </p><p>Peter's sigh makes John think of sailors looking at the vast expanse of the ocean and knowing they can’t go home. </p><p>“The last time I spoke to him I told him I couldn’t marry him and now I may never get the chance too.” </p><p>And while John felt a rise of fury on behalf of his son well up in his chest he was taken completely by surprise when Peter Hale, Wolf of the courtroom, begins to weep. </p><p>TWTWTW</p><p>It was awkward sitting with a crying man that up until 20 minutes ago he had nothing to do with and really didn’t care about either way. But now John finds himself with a supportive hand on Peter's shoulder waiting for the man to calm down. </p><p>“I’m sorry.” Peter says when he finds some composure. </p><p>John pulls his hand back and resists wiping it on his pants. “You wanna share what that's all about?” </p><p>John wants to know. Stiles got his wild nature from Claudia but his curiosity was all from John. He needs to know what is going on between this man and his son. There is so much that he is missing, three years worth of a relationship that Stiles couldn’t share with him. He wants to know, and he wants to feel near to his son in any way that he can as his life is in limbo somewhere in the hospital. He needs something to focus on.  </p><p>It takes a few minutes for Peter to compose himself enough but eventually he nods. “I’m not usually so out of sorts.”</p><p>“It’s been a rough day.” John said. </p><p>“I supposed it has.” The man runs his hand through what was once styled hair. “I wanted to say yes, of course I want to marry him. But I couldn’t say yes. Not when you didn’t know.”</p><p>“And why don’t I know?” </p><p>“It’s no secret that you don’t like me John.” Peter says bitterly. “We wanted to keep our involvement secret at first. Truthfully we didn’t think it would amount to anything but it did. He didn’t want you to know and I figured that he just needed time. When he asked me to marry him I realized that the only people in his life that know me as his partner are Scott and his wife.”</p><p> He pauses maybe collecting his thoughts or calming his breath. John isn’t sure but when he stops again he can hear the sadness and resignation in Peter's voice. </p><p>“My whole family knows. We spend Saturday brunches together and go on vacation together with my sister's family. You aren’t even aware that I know him.”</p><p>John feels gutted. He knows his son. He knows that he responds to negativity by avoidance and secrecy. Stiles tends to ignore the problem as long as possible to appease the other parties involved. </p><p>And yeah, John doesn’t like Peter Hale, but he also doesn’t know him. He’s never had a reason to figure out who Peter Hale is outside of his regular dislike of the man's ability to do his job well and undermine John's work. </p><p>He knows of course that Peter isn’t purposefully trying to set criminals free. He has known that for a while. John believes in due process and that means that sometimes people are set free even when John thinks otherwise, but his blind and vocal opinion of the man had driven a wedge between him and his son that he wasn’t even aware of. </p><p>“I wanted to say yes.” Peter's voice is broken and it pulls John’s attention back to him. “I wanted to say yes.” </p><p>John sighs.  “When he wakes up you can tell him that.”</p><p>Peter turns slowly towards him and John can feel his chest curl with shame at the hope growing in his eyes. The hope that's burning there.</p><p>“I mean it. If you make Stiles happy and he wants to be with you you better tell him yes when he wakes up.” John clears his throat to be able to fit words into the suddenly tight space of his throat. ”In the meantime, why don’t you catch me up.”</p><p>TWTWTW</p><p>Stiles is in surgery for three and a half hours. Another two hours in the ICU before he is moved and John with Peter in toe are able to go into his room and see him. </p><p>“Oh sweetheart.” John hears Peter breathe out before John has even finished a thought, and yeah, Stiles looks pretty bad. He’s pale in some places and yellow in others. There are tubes and wires all over his body. Both eyes look bruised.</p><p>He looks fucking awful. But he is alive and John is thankful for that. </p><p>TWTWTW</p><p>A few hours pass before Stiles wakes up but he’s too groggy for any sort of real conversation. The night nurse ups his drugs and he goes back to sleep. It isn’t until the following morning when both John and Peter have fallen asleep in hard plastic chairs that John is roused by a faint, “Dad.” </p><p>Stiles' eyes are puffy but cracked open and bleary. </p><p>“Hey kiddo.” John whispers back. </p><p>There is the slightest twitch to Stiles' lips and John doesn’t know if it's an attempt at a smirk or a grimace of pain. </p><p>“How are you feeling?”</p><p>Stiles takes a few shallow breaths before responding. “Sore. Really sore. What happened?” </p><p>“Do you remember going to work this morning?”</p><p>Another breath. “Yeah.”</p><p>“You were shot on a call. Do you remember that?”</p><p>It takes him a minute but he eventually says, “oh.” His eyes roam down over his body covered in hospital sheets. “The gas station?”</p><p>“Yeah.”</p><p>“They get him?”</p><p>“You kidding me? Parrish had him in cuffs in an hour.” </p><p>Stiles hums. </p><p>John watches as Stiles notices Peter sitting on the other side of his hospital bed. His arm is limp and he drags it over until his fingers can brush against Peter's hair. It's a mess that John witnessed happening each time he had fisted his hair in frustration or worry. </p><p>“Is he okay?” Stiles asks, concern evident in his voice. “We had a fight.” </p><p>“He was really worried about you.” He tells his son softly. “Kid I love you so much. I am proud of you and of the man you have become. I know your mother would be too, but she would be ashamed of me for being someone you couldn’t talk to. You had every right not to tell me about the two of you. I certainly haven’t earned that knowledge over the years. And I was wrong. He was just doing his job and being good at it. I judged him unfairly and that has cost me being able to be a part of a relationship that is so important to you.”</p><p>“I was worried that if I told you and you weren’t okay with it that I would have to choose between you.” Stiles takes a moment to breathe before continuing. “I love you Dad, but I am in love with Peter. I would have chosen him.”</p><p>It hurts knowing how close he could have been to losing his son to his own stubbornness. But his heart warms at Stiles' conviction. “You are certainly your mother's son. She left her family to be with me. And while I know she loved her life I know she missed her family terribly. You don’t have to do that with me. I want to be a part of your life, and I want to get to know your fiance too.”</p><p>“He said no.” </p><p>“Because I was a fool and couldn’t be trusted with this. But I know now and I just want you to be happy Stiles. I know how you are, kid. You don’t love in halves. If you asked him to marry you I know you meant it, and I support you.”</p><p>Stiles' eyes are full of moisture but so are Johns and he is okay with that. Stiles has stitches and staples all over his chest up through his shoulder and John is so, so happy he is alive. He has a chance to make things right with his son and he is thankful for that above all. </p><p>“Yeah.” Stiles says. John watches Stiles head fall back to the other side. His fingers tap gently on Peter's cheek and the man sits up with a start, his whole body tense. </p><p>There’s a soft smile on Stiles' face. “Hey there.”</p><p>John watches as the rigidity leaves Peter’s body in a breath and is replaced with overwhelming relief. “Darling.” He grabs Stiles hand pulling it to his face.  </p><p>“Didn’t mean to worry you.” Stiles' voice is subdued and repentant as if he had made the decision to be shot himself. </p><p>“Stiles.” The man says his son's name like an invocation. “I love you.” </p><p>“I know you do.” </p><p>When John stands Peter jumps slightly as if he had forgotten that he had been there at all.  “I’ll go call Melissa and Scott. I think you two need to talk.” He leans down and kisses Stiles' forehead. “Get it straightened out.” </p><p>When the door clicks shut behind him John lets out a sigh that relieves some of the remaining tension in his shoulders. “I’ll fix it Claudia.” He promises aloud to a mostly empty hallway. “I promise.” </p><p>TWTWTW</p><p>Stiles and Peter get married six months later. It's a lovely cool day and they wear complementing suits. Stiles talked Peter into letting him wear a Star Wars neck tie, the design was so miniscule it was barely recognizable, and Peter ceded to having mini pies instead of a cake. </p><p>No one cheers louder than John when they are announced as the Stilinski-Hales.</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>For this years Nanowrimo I am cleaning out my work in progress folder instead of crafting something new. My Teen Wolf folder alone has 47 things that need to be edited, finished, or just uploaded. Stay tuned for more TW fics.</p><p>Constructive criticism is always welcome. I can't learn if I don't know what I am doing wrong.</p></blockquote></div></div>
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